Sunday, March 8, 2015

Le Geste Napolitian

During my last weekend in Rhode Island it was miraculously warmish (almost 40 degrees) and not snowing. For those of you who don't know, we got 65 inches of snow in February, which was much more manageable than Boston's 106 inches. But it was still enough to keep us caged in since the snow always came on Saturdays and Sundays. My poor husband spent several weekends shoveling snow off of roofs and hacking away at ice dams, while I got to know our grandson better. But finally, a nice weekend. So of course, we got out of the house.

This photo is from only Half way through the month!

Roger had to shovel just to get out of the house. No wonder we didn't go far from home in February.

It started with a nice lazy breakfast at a local orchard and coffee house where I finished last weekend's blog while Roger snapped my photo and did some electronic manipulation. Isn't this great?! Then it was out to a buffet lunch at an Indian restaurant in Providence, to the used bookstore at our local library, and finally up to Worcester, Massachusetts to the Worcester Art Museum--a real gem.

As we explored, I was attracted to the painting below. Le Geste Napolitian was painted in 1757 by Jean-Baptiste Grueze, a french painter in Italy. The description card said that Grueze was known for his moralistic, story-telling paintings. Unfortunately, the story, either French or Italian, that explains the action in this painting is lost, but the young woman is sending away her aristocratic lover who is dressed as a peddler. I wish I knew why! I have to take the Worcester art historian's word that her gesture is one of dismissal, although it looks hard wrought to me.

What caught my eye about this painting is peddler's wares. Do you see? His basket is full of embroidery silk, silk ribbon, and lace bobbins! What a wonderful haul. I wish I could pick through it myself. It made me itch to stitch, but I was leaving the next day, or so we thought.

Sunday I packed my bags and we headed to the airport, only to find out that my flights were cancelled. Yes, it was snowing again. But the real problem was that it was snowing in Baltimore, where my connecting flight was supposed to be. As a result, I got another whole day in New England and didn't leave until Tuesday morning. It was a long trip, with another connecting flight cancelled and my rebooked flight late, but I made it back to in Denver 12.5 hours door to door. Unfortunately, that really exhausted me, so there was not much stitching last week. And this week I go on a business trip to Virginia, so I don't expect to accomplish much for awhile. I will bring my little sampler and at least work the hem in the evenings. Cross your fingers that there will be no more cancelled flights--the weather is supposed to be good.

In the meantime, I'll daydream about the maiden and the silk peddler and think of all the wonderful things I could stitch if I had door to door floss delivery. No, mail order just isn't the same!

About Me

I am an embroiderer and historical preservationist who splits her time between Colorado and Rhode Island. I started learning Brazilian embroidery when I moved to Colorado in 2009 and it is my favorite type of surface embroidery. My blog tries to capture my needlework memories and make sense of what needlework means in my life.